Category: Photography

Been so uninspired lately that I couldn’t even think of a proper title to this post blearrgh. I really wish I had more time to blog, but last semester is killing me and every free time I have is spent on running errands, booking last minute items like cake hantaran etc.

Which is why I’m so grateful that MOH, Umairah, and fiance took time off to throw us a mini DIY pre wedding shoot. #brokeassbride lah katakan hahaha. But sweetest couple ever, sayang korang!

The shoot was so impromptu that we both had barely any time to prepare anything. Luckily I managed to swing by Forever 21 to get this long vest/dress thingy to throw over my jeans and a flower crown from Bugis village. Helmi just threw on his fave white shirt, suspenders and a DIY boutonniere I made that morning. A quick tutorial is available below. All you need is some extra flowers lying around, safety pin, string and hot glue!

And, as some of you may already know, I’ve been having a terrible, terrible time dealing with my wedding card vendor. Despite their minor role in whole the process itself which is merely printing since I designed most of the card and map myself. This will be a tale for another time, so I will not be disclosing their identity for now. But I’ve FINALLY received them after almost 3 weeks of delay. Sneak peek nak tak??

LOVE LOVE THEM! At least they delivered quality, despite all the fuss. But it was an experience I never ever want to repeat. FULL STOP.

There are actually so many mooooar updates, including a sudden change in vendors (a.k.a jump ship) but just so little time to type. Will find time to update soon!

Guests love to feel as if they’re attending a gala premiere (when in fact it’s your wedding but it’s not much different ey?). Upon arrival, they get to stand in the limelight and their pictures taken, while everybody else looks at them in awe. That, I find, is the ultimate thrill of photobooths. For memories’ sake or guestbook purposes aside, your guests stand a chance to flaunt their outfits and feel special, hence enjoying your wedding even more 🙂

Currently in the local market, there are a few types of photobooth services and companies that differ depending on one’s needs, style and budget. For those yang angan-angan nak DIY, photobooth backgrounds and props are fun to make, but there’s always the technical issue between the camera and photo printer, and how fast and reliable can it produce instant pictures, considering the usual crowd in Malay weddings. Then again, there’s always the trusty webcam! Cute kan amik gambar sendiri!

Anyhoos if you’re UN-technologically savvy like me, then our best bet would always be hiring someone to do this for us. At a cost. These services can average at about $800; I’ve seen some that can reach as low as $300 while the more expensive ones can reach a whooping $2000, tu pun kalau sanggup ahhhh.

For me, the idea of a booth has always appealed to me ever since zaman neoprint machine where me and my secondary school besties would spend all our money on. Nostalgic okayyyy! I absolutely adored how we could pose for our own pictures and control our own shots. That way we could be as wild and tak malu all we want, without any photographer to judge our cray-crayness. I could also recall how exciting it was to anticipate how our neoprints would look like after it was being processed by the machine. Hahahaha satu-satu muka tak tau sabar. So ever since I knew of the existence of such booths in the local scene, apa lagi, I terus jump the wagon and started enquiring.

And I instantly fell in love with Suzie. And Lexie. I can’t decide lah actually, coz they’re both too awesome please!

How gorgeous!!! I suka sangat sangat how the pictures turn out so bright and clear, and somehow everyone looks like a superstar. By the way if you’re wondering siapa lah ni dua dara Suzie ngan Lexie, they’re actually the photobooth machines belonging to the awesome people of One Eye Click Live; especially Justin, who has always been eagerly replying my enquiries from day one. He was literally never more than a day late in his replies, so A ++ for customer service!

A fully automated machine that shoots and prints by herself! She is elegant and compact. Constructed for convenience, she is the all-in-one, bring it anywhere, place-it-anywhere and print-anywhere robot photographer. It’s also completely self-contained, fun looking and portable.

She can work anywhere – in the garden, in the ballroom, in a restaurant. You may use our tastefully selected range of backdrops, or have us personalise one for you, complementing the theme of your event! 🙂 Like a mirror reflecting the best of you, coupled with snazzy moments and trigger-happy funshots where you do not even need to lift a finger to push the camera trigger, you get the best quality results no less than what professional photography can deliver.

How. cool. is. that! Plus, the unlimited pictures that the guests get to take back turn out to be those classic film strips that allow four poses, like those vintage mak salleh photobooths, minus that little bit of customisation on every strip.

Did I say how much I love these little things??

Okay, I have to stop fan-girling over this hehhhhhh. If it weren’t for my favourite Aunt and cousins from Aussie who are sponsoring for my photobooth, there was no way I could afford Suzie/Lexie. Before this, whenever I read about BTBs who had uncles and aunts sponsoring for music/cake etc, I’ve always thought they were so lucky to have extended family that was so supportive, and I didn’t think that I had any that would be willing to go that far for little ol’ me. So when my cousin passed me that suspicious white envelope and told me to get, and I qoute, “the best photobooth out there”, I was so touched :’) Tak sangka sey. Thanks Mak Teh and Khaaaaad! Love you to bits ❤

When I saw this deal a few weeks after my engagement, I just KNEW I had to have it. My mom and grandma had been bugging me to print 4r photos of the engagement and store it in a slot-in album so that they can take it out and show to relatives whenever they come over. But let’s face it, who does that anymore? A piece of 4r photo costs around what, 20 cents? Printing 200 pieces would amount to a good $40, and that’s without the album. Also, photos fade after a while, and don’t even get me started on how they stick to the plastic sheet of albums in an unsightly way. The older generations love their 4rs, but then again they didn’t have other options la kannn. But WE do.

Photobooks are different in a sense that the pictures are actually printed onto the pages, like in a magazine, and the paper used is usually of a better quality so there are less chances of fading or the ink running (unless of course if water gets on the pages). But the best thing about them is they are fully customisable, so there are no restrictions on how many pictures goes into a photobook! Some pictures may be scaled up for emphasis, while for other pictures, you can fit as many of them in a page as you like (asalkan senonoh sudah ah). So I was reallyyyy happy when I got the deal because photobook printing is the market spans about $70 – 80 for a 60 page photobook in the same size, but I got mine for under $30!

So after spending days customising the photobook and arranging the photos around on a downloadable software in the comfort of my home, the next step was to just upload the whole file and wait. One downside was the delivery took around a month and truthfully, I was expecting a cheap quality book. But I got what was promised, when I monstrously tore open the DHL package, and in that jakon moment, I was looking at my very first photobook. The company, Impressions SG took the effort to slip wax paper in between the pages to protect them during delivery and the photobook was carefully wrapped, siap dengan DHL delivery boy skali. Macam mana tak excited!

Matte hardcover! And I didn’t want the photobook to look too “kahwin-kahwin” so I separated H and I’s picture this way to keep the “halal” distance. Amaciam works tak?? Hahahaa.

I love how I could design the layout of the pages on my own and choose however many pictures I want in each page!

And surprisingly, the software was really easy to use. You can create your own collage structure and just drag the pictures into the blank boxes.

JENG JENG JENG… The title says it all! I’ve finally decided on and confirmed the company for photography on my wedding day and also for our post wedding photoshoot. Wooot wooot! I think I couldn’t have emphasised any further how I simply adore Malaysian vendors, I feel they have raw talent, also the capability and guts to achieve results that are new and unique, yet still maintain that affordable price factor. Since engaging their decor services is out of the question due to logistics and possible transportation complications (goodbye gorgeous pelamins and tentages), I thought, why not bring the talent here kan?

I have been admiring HNHM | The Photoworks for a while now and have been considering them, along side local powerhouses as mentioned before here. Now a bit of disclaimer first, I am maha picky and fussy about my photographers. Of course the first level of picky would be the quality and appeal of the work itself, but beyond that my other criteria is that our personalities must match and they must be able to tahan my karenah and needs on the day itself, like for example kalau I nak amik gambar kat the water breaker thingy that I’ve seen before just on the coast by Gurame restaurant (which requires all of us to panjat a pagar illegally) then I will get that picture. Yeah that sorta thing eyyy. And since the fiance aka H is also super pendiam, the photographer must also be able to make him feel comfortable. And an indicator of that would be him actually joining the conversation during “interview” sessions with the photographers, instead of just smiling and being polite while I interrogate them. So with this indicator in mind to guide me through my photographer selection process (macam paham eh nak kena guidelines semua), I met all the shortlisted photographers one by one. Yessss I met them ALLLLLL muahahaa. Among the tough contenders were Fadly of AnAnalogAffair (periodically the only exchanges between H and him were *CRICK CRICK CRICK*), Zakaria of Zakaria Zainal Photography (a lovely guy who is very accommodating, yet still maintains that calm professionalism while he showed us his portfolio. Fyi he majored in photojournalism in NUS phiweeeeeet) and Halil of TheProjectPixel (he’s so quiet and sweet! truthfully, Halil went closest to the finishing mark as he and H had loads in common, and even shared some personal jokes btwn themselves. ewahhhh!).

Yet, somehow I still wasn’t satisfied so I booked an appointment with Hani MJ of HNHM Photoworks and travelled across the causeway just to meet her and hear what she has to say. Initially we were immediately sold on the outdoor photos sessions she had captured around JB, Iskandar Town and even Desaru. So we immediately placed deposit for our post wedding outdoor shoot, which included 5 hours of service. She also mentioned that if I wanted to go a few places for the shoot, she was willing to factor out the travelling time. Sweet kan this girl. Siggghhh. To top it up, Hani had this calm personality that I find will really complement my anxious disposition in nerve-wracking situations (aka cepat panic) and she was so easy to talk to that without even me noticing, H was already part of our conversations while we talked about the adat-adat perkahwinan that were still practised in Malaysia. What also appealed to me was that she had many fresh ideas to contribute. Rupa-rupanya I found out she does freelance creative consults for firms and events as her day job. Best nya!!

So I pikir, punya pikir, punya pikir, and realised that Hani could offer me that edge and uniqueness that I craved for in Malaysian vendors. Some of HNHM works that completely took my breath away:

Apart from the super lawa pictures, Hani’s personality also fits us both so well that it was hard to even consider the previous photographers that we’ve met. Plus, their photography packages are godsent! The one that suited us the most was 2 photographer services that cover 3 events, the nikah and two receptions, all of which can be split up on different days, 1 outdoor session (pre/post wedding), and it includes unlimited photos, 4R pictures in an album, a customised storybook album, 2 regular coffee table frames and also a huge 20″ by 30″ high resolution canvas print. I suka mumbo jumbo packages macam gini okay!!! And to cover our event in Singapore only have to top up 250RM (Hani is based in JB) and she also agreed to my offer to stay over at my place the night after our first reception (so that night jugak I boleh kepo-kepo tengok gambar and probably squeeze a few pictures out of her. chey siang-siang dah plan buat kerja macam gini hehhhh).

Makeup and photography provided by none other than retro-lovin Aeqmal Huat Photography (and here) who also covered Norseha Sani’s wedding recently. I love how they can bring back to the glory of zaman 60-han yet make it look current and not dated. Siapa-siapa yang suka this old world glamour look can really consider their work and makeup service (yes they do provide that!).

Yes, I’m still at it. Still in the midst of searching for my ideal photographer, endlessly harassing some of my candidates with question after question & meeting up with each and every one of them until I’m pretty sure word has leaked out that an insanely fickle nit-pick is prowling around looking for prey. Heh.

And it doesn’t help that when I skedaddling through fb the other day, I saw this set of pictures from D’Shootz Photography.

I must say, I was impressed.

Apparently it’s from the all new “:TWO::A Cinematic Portraiture: ” by Fudge, their resident (female, for those who have a preference) photographer (who was once kind enough to layan me when I was surveying for a photographer for my engagement).

I love everything about these photos!

D’Shootz is known for their reasonably priced packages, especially the photo+video combo (for just $2500, whuuut???) that was all the rage a few months ago. Their photos has always been pretty alright to me, but these kind of sets them on the playing field, perhaps? We’ll see 🙂